Everlasting Drowning
by Techno Skittles
Summary: "I want to be better than what I am now. I want to be noticed." "Ah. But those things cannot be gained by mere willpower alone. Therefore, in the end, you seek power." But everything came with a price.


**Chapter 1**

A garden.

Lush, green bushes with elegant, healthy leaves that lined the towering marble walls that surrounded her. Flawless white roses dotted these bushes, greatly contrasting the dark green leaves. Underneath her feet was a cobble stone path which framed flower beds containing the same white roses that decorated the bushes.

Everything here, even the light and breezy atmosphere, was so peaceful and enriching. It was definitely a place that would favor a large place in her heart.

The only question though was: Why was she here?

Maka looked around to find that she was wearing a lengthy white dress. In fact, it was so long that the bottom of the light material concealed her feet and brushed against the stone ground. The dress gained a few more layers below her hips, making it loose, like a hoopskirt was underneath it. But Maka could thankfully say there was not.

Above her hips was another story. The fabric was so tight, like a corset, and shamelessly hugged her upper torso. It was a crème-ish or pearl color. Blinding white ribbon criss-crossed down the front and was secured at the top with a bow. The snow-white, see-through sleeves were slim and reached her wrists, but neglected her shoulders completely, leaving them bare.

_'What am I doing dressed like this? Why am I here anyways?'_ Maka pondered.

Sure it was nice. No, it was _excellent_, but she couldn't shake the feeling that this was all just a cover. A decoy of some sort. That something sinister was brewing behind it all. That maybe he being there could probably be the end of her.

Maka sighed deeply and rubbed the back of her neck. "Soul's right. I read way too many books."

Brushing her foolish worrying off, Maka strolled around the garden, admiring the floral decorations, occasionally stopping to finger their velvety smooth petals. She was tempted to pick a few, but decided she didn't want to disrupt the arrangement and left them alone.

Even with the uneasy feeling building up in her chest, Maka had to admit, the place was gorgeous. There couldn't have been anything relating to evil in a close proximity to such a sanctuary. It was just too. . .pure. She felt so fresh and clean.

"But everything in this world has an opposing twin. Purity is no exception."

Maka's body tensed at the sound of the echoing voice. Her head whipped around to look behind her and face the source, but the garden was empty.

"Without opposites, the world is unbalanced."

Maka's breathing hitched and she turned her body around fully, eyes scanning the area for an intruder. Unluckily (and creepily) she found none.

So she was right. There _was_ something wrong with this place.

"Maka, why don't you come see me? We have a lot to discuss."

Frightened, green eyes darted back and forth, their owner shakily asking, "What do you mean?"

All was silent for a minute and Maka began to question if she imagined it all. Maybe her anxiety triggered something. Maybe. . .

"You have to meet me to find out."

"So are you coming?"

Maka blinked and glanced at her surroundings, which changed from a secluded rose garden to her apartment kitchen. She gasped at the sudden change and immediately began coughing. She peered through tightly closed eyes to see black smoke filling a high percentage of the air. Her eyes widened and she began to cough harder as she detected a pan on the stove from which the black smoke was emitting from.

"Shit!" she yelled and grabbed the pan handle, lifting it off the stove and dropping it into the sink with excessive clatter. Smoke still rose from the pan along with a high-pitched sizzling. Maka flicked the faucet handle putting the water on high and running it over the pan, causing a more feverish sizzling that hissed at the contact of cold water. White steam intermingled with the black, ashy smoke, lightening it to a dark gray, then a regular gray and continuing to do so until only the steam was left. Maka coughed into her arm violently and took a deep breath of polluted air.

"Maka, is everything all right over there?" asked a worried Tsubaki.

Leaning against the kitchen counter, Maka took notice of the phone she cradled to her ear for the first time. She used her blouse sleeve to wipe her brow and glanced at the still steaming pan. "Um, yeah. It's nothing. Just kind of burned dinner." She peeked into the pan (from a safe distance, of course) to find a charred, shriveled up remain of. . .whatever dinner was supposed to be.

"Oh. Well are you coming shopping with us tomorrow? Kid's paying for everything according to Liz and Patty."

"Shopping?" Maka thought back to the last time she went shopping. Long story short, Blair was not the best mall buddy. Especially since said person wanted to visit every lingerie shop in existence and that the both of you just so happened to run into your father in one of mentioned lingerie shops.

Then again, these were her friends that knew her likes and dislikes and _weren't_ obsessed with being sluts. So it wouldn't be as bad, right?

"Um, sure. Yeah. What time?"

"Liz and Patty said to be ready by eight-thirty so we can reach the mall at nine. And since there doesn't seem to be a limit on how much we can spend, we'll probably be shopping for hours." Tsubaki chuckled. "I suggest wearing comfortable shoes."

Maka nodded. "Okay. So are you guys stopping by here?"

"Yeah. We'll be there around eight forty-five."

"Gotcha. Well if you don't mind, I have to clean up the poor remains of dinner. See you tomorrow, 'kay?"

"Okay, Maka-chan."

Maka removed the phone from her ear and pressed the end button, cutting off the line. She let the phone slide from her hand onto the counter and she slide down to the floor. The kitchen was really warm, too warm for comfort anyway. The heightened temperature was no doubt the aftermath of whatever unfortunate thing had burned in that pan. Maka's fingers ran through the top two buttons to her blouse, forcing the buttons out of the holes, opening her shirt up and allowing her more air.

"Dammit," she muttered, wondering what she was going to cook now. She let her head thud against the kitchen cabinet and she suddenly felt very exhausted.

How in the hell could that hallucination have been so spellbinding that it made her completely zone out during a conversation with Tsubaki? Not to mention burn dinner. Better question, what did it even mean? Who the heck wanted to meet her so badly but wouldn't even show their face? Was it someone she knew? No, they didn't sound familiar, but. . .wait, yeah they did. In fact, she knew that voice well, but just couldn't match it with a face. So who was it? All she could really depict that it was definitely female.

Maka put her palm to her forehead and closed her eyes. What the hell was all of this?

The click of the door lock reached Maka's ears, triggering her alertness. She stood up rapidly and walked out of the kitchen just as the creak of the front door squeaked throughout the apartment. Soul walked through the doorframe and began to shrug off his leather jacket right away. Maka fought the urge to laugh as his face scrunched up in obvious distaste.

"What the hell burned in here?" he asked and threw his jacket on one of the coat hooks on the wall.

This time Maka couldn't fight back the laugh. It erupted from her throat without a second though and she shrugged. "Dinner," she said with a shy smile.

Soul eyed her for a moment before sighing and looking down at his feet and saying, "And how did you manage that?"

Maka hesitated, her mind flashing back to the garden and whispered, echoing voice beckoning her in her daydream. Should she tell him? Was it something to really worry about? So what if she burned dinner over it? It wouldn't be the first time she's burned a meal.

Wait. Yeah. It would be.

No! No, he didn't need to know. It was just some dumb daydream. It meant absolutely nothing. All fake, no worry.

Besides, if it did in fact mean something, she could handle it. After all, in was in _her_ mind, which meant it was _her_ problem.

"I guess I just zoned out or something," she said with a shrug. It was a vague answer, but Soul normally kept his distance anyway. He never pried into her life and just let her be. Sometimes, she was grateful for his recessiveness.

And today was no exception. He nodded and walked past her without a word, heading towards one of their windows. He popped the latch and slid the window open, letting in the cool, fresh, breathable dusk air. Maka let it fill her lungs, cleansing them of the smoky air she had grown accustomed to in the past few minutes.

"Good idea. We need to start airing out the apartment. Go open some more windows and I'll take care of the burnt food," Maka instructed and walked back into the kitchen. The second she stepped through the doorway, the foul stench filled her nostrils, burning the inside of her nose. She was thrown in a violent coughing fit as her lungs proceeded to reject the ash filling them via oxygen. She covered her mouth with her arm, preventing most of the tainted air from being inhaled and made her way over to the sink. Her coughing died down a little so she removed her arm from her mouth and grabbed a few paper towels. She picked up the burnt. . .thing in the pan (it was hard to call it food now) and threw all of the paper towels into a plastic bag.

After rinsing out the sink and washing all of the ash and soot down the drain, Maka went to her room and slipped on her flip-flops. She walked out of the apartment door, that Soul had propped open to allow as much unpolluted air to fill their small apartment as possible, and headed downstairs. The young scythemeister treaded along the pebbled path leading to the back of the apartment complex to where their rusted dumpster sat against the brick wall. She held her breath and threw the bag in then jogged back to the front of the building.

Upon entering the apartment she shared with her weapon, she was greeted with Soul cradling the phone with his hand and asking, "Hey, what toppings do you want?"

Maka shrugged and plopped down on their living room couch. "Just get whatever."

Soul walked out of the room without a sign of acknowledgment to what she had said and Maka rolled her eyes. Sometimes he could be a real pain. It was a wonder they could resonate as well as they did. But they could and they always did. They got stronger together and became an excellent team according to the constant praise from of the teachers and Shinigami-sama himself.

And that's the exact reason that her weapon as of two years, was a deathscythe as of a month and a half ago. It had taken them some time, considering they had to start all over, but dammit it was worth all of the glory they received.

_'Wow, Soul! You're a deathscythe? That's so cool!'_

_'Great job, Maka and Soul! You guys are so strong and talented!'_

_'I envy you two. You reached a hundred souls in just two years. We're still at number thirty on our third year.'_

_'Awesome, Maka! You made a deathscythe at the age of fourteen! How'd you manage something as big as that?'_

Yes, all of the glory and praise was definitely worth it.

_'You're so strong, Maka. It's unbelievable!'_

_'But is it enough?'_

The voice from earlier!

Maka sat up, attentive and alert, waiting for anything else the voice had to say. She calmed her breath rate the best she could just in case it was too loud. The voice was sneaky, coming at the least expected times and then disappearing quicker than a weak tornado. It wanted to speak to her, right? So why did it always leave her hanging, desperately trying to catch it without any luck?

That voice. It was important. No, critical would be a better word. She didn't know if it mattered to her enough to be essential. Not yet. So for now it was critical – it could go either way.

"The pizza should be here in about twenty - hey, you all right?"

Soul's voice shattered her statue-still stance. She hadn't even realized that she had been standing. She blinked rapidly, dismissing her thoughts and inquiries as she turned to face her partner. His scarlet eyes bore into her, studying her with heed. "You all right?" he repeated when she failed to answer.

Maka's hand subconsciously found its way to the back of her head, nervously pulling at a random strand of blonde hair. "Um, yeah. Just must've zoned out again. I think I'm just going to go read in my room until the. . .Chinese gets here." Without another glance at her confused partner or even a thought about him, she walked down the hall and shut the door to her room quietly.

Soul stood in the living room, watching his meister shut herself off in her room and quirked a silver eyebrow. "Chinese? I ordered pizza."

* * *

**Author's Comments:**

**Soooooooo~ Whatcha think? Should I continue? Or was this a horrible idea and I should just stop now?**

**I won't know until you review! ;)**

**For the last line, that happened to me once. I had a really shitty day and the only thing that would've made it better was some Chinese take-out (my fav food EVER). So when my parents asked if I wanted take-out I was like "FUCK YEAH! XD" Then the pizza arrived and I was like, "What is this shit?"**

**Parents: We ordered pizza.**

**Me (on the outside): Oh.**

**Me (on the inside): FML. =_=**

**Back to the story~**

**I'm not sure if I really liked how I began/ended this chapter. Especially how I ended it. **

**I'm horrible! OTL**

**Okay, I'm not sure how else to advertise this, but I just started a SE RP forum and I'd really like people to join. :) It's called **_Soul Eater Added RP_. **OC's are allowed, hence "added". We have no guy charas! DX And we only have 3 canon! So join! Please? ^^**

**And lastly, I just created my first Soul Eater AMV. I just thought I'd advertise this while I'm advertising stuff. :P So if you would look up KowaiUSO, you'll see my vid for Patty and Black*Star (but it's not a couple thing). It's just. . .randomness. So please watch it? It took me over 9 hours with all of the dumb effects. OTL I literally died three times from exhaustion and frustration.**

**Anywho, that's really all I have to say for now. Sorry for making you read my long author's note. Unless you skipped over it. Then you're a bitch. But you'll never see that because you skipped over it, right? Lol. XD I'm so horrible.**

**Until next time~!**


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